Lords of Equestria
by Dalek Prime
Summary: While on a secret diplomatic mission to the Griffon Kingdom, Celestia and Luna fall under attack by an enemy from the princess of the sun's past. Now lost and alone in the wilds of The Everfree Forest, the two sisters must depend upon both their magic and each other if they are to survive the onslaught of evil that relentlessly purses them throughout the dangerous woods.
1. Help Is On The Way

A/N: I don't own My Little Pony

* * *

Chapter One: Help is on the Way

"And…you're sure those were the terms?" Celestia finally said after hearing everything her messenger had told her everything as she sat upon her throne

Ambassador Noble Word nodded grimly in response. After Pinkie Pie and Rainbow had returned from their mission to the Griffon Kingdome, they had told Twilight of the grim condition of the once great nation was currently in. Upon hearing this, she sent a message to her former teacher bout the current state of the neighboring Kingdome and wanted to see if it was at all possible to send aid to the griffons. The ruler of Equestria agreed in this matter and sent the wisest of her ambassador's to negotiate between the two races so that her ponies could send relief efforts to their neighbors in the north.

While the princess's intentions were pure, the griffons on the other hand did not jump at the first chance for help from the likes of someone they considered to be a tyrant in their eyes. The winged beast's xenophobia and greed clouded any chance of making Noble Word's job any easier. After days of negotiating with the griffon's current head of state, Governor Gall, Noble Word finally reached an agreement; though said terms weren't exactly favorable to the ambassador.

"I'm afraid so, princess" Noble Word confirmed "Governor Gall won't even consider listening to any sort of relief plans unless you alone travel to their Kingdome in secret and without your guards alongside you"

This was by all means a bad idea, but Celestia couldn't blame the governor for his actions. The other races saw the pony race as conquerors—which they were not—and she was some wrathful goddess that led her ponies to extend her reaches to the farthest edges of the world; propaganda and slander that she had to deal with on a normal basis and this was no different. She had tried to extend her Kingdome's olive branch to the other races in the past, but it was usually met with contempt, for they all thought that receiving help from the ponies meant surrendering to the princess of the sun's rule; she had said time and time again was not true. But perhaps with this relief effort to the griffons would be a step into leading the other races into trusting her and her ponies.

"Very well then, send word to the governor that I agree to the terms" Celestia said "Tell him I will meet with him in two days time and that I will be traveling by train"

"With all due respect your majesty, but I must detest" the ambassador calmly disagreed, though the princess could hear the panic in his words "It would be unwise to travel alone to a Kingdome that is notorious for being generally hostile toward our kind. I would prefer it if you had some sort personal guard"

Noble paused for a moment, as he mulled over who could travel alongside the princess and be of the

"Would it be at all possible to ask Discord to travel with you?" he suggested

"He is not exactly an expert when it comes to diplomatic matters" the sun goddess replied "He once thought that a kangaroo court was actuality a court for kangaroo's if that gives you any idea of his sense of government"

That was just one reason Celestia wasn't to keen on the idea of traveling with the lord of chaos. While she and Discord had become good friends since his reformation, the trickster still enjoyed teases and taunting her any chance he got and the thought of traveling by train with just the former villain made a slight shiver crawl up her spin at the thought of all the pranks and bad jokes he would put her through during the trip.

"Besides Noble Word, I am more the capable of defending myself" she continued "I understand your concern, but if we are to gain the griffons trust then I must do this alone"

"No, you will not" a new voice firmly protested within the throne room

The two ponies turned around to see the princess of the night standing in the doorway with a cool yet hard expression on her face. Celestia knew that her sibling would object to something like this which is why she wanted to keep the meeting between her and Noble Word just between them.

"Because I will be traveling with you, my sister" the co-ruler of Equestria furthered

"I'm sorry Luna, but you can't go with me" her elder sister informed her "Governor Gall only expects only to see me at this meeting"

"Not anymore" Luna countered "For I have just received word from the governor that he is expecting me as well"

That visibly took the princess of the sun aback when she heard that. She looked over to Noble Word, thinking that this was somehow his doing. But the ambassador quickly shook his head in response, indicating that he had no part in this surprise announcement. Celestia remained silent to allow her sister to explain as to why she was suddenly expected to join in the secret meeting.

"I sent a letter to the governor telling him that I would be honored if I partook in the relief efforts to his homeland" she finally explained in causal tone "Gall said that he was flattered by this and looks forward to meet with both of us"

Celestia's eyes narrowed at her sibling, who only looked defiantly back at her, knowing that she had blatantly overstepped the princess of the sun's authority. But the elder princess remained steady and attempted to talk Luna out of this.

"Now Luna, let's be reasonable here" she began in a calm yet firm tone "If we're both gone, then who would run things here at the castle? Or raise the sun and moon for that matter?"

"I have already taken care of that, sister" the princess of the night replied "I have asked Twilight to handle matters of the crown while I have tasked Discord with raising the sun and moon in our absence"

The ruler of day's whole body went rigid when she heard what her sister had just done. Her nostrils failed in anger while Luna stood her ground and looked back at her with a coldly defiant expression, showing that she wasn't going to back down.

"Noble Word, please give us the room" She asked in irritated voice as she kept her eyes locked on Luna "I wish to speak with my sister in private"

The ambassador bowed his head to the two princesses before hurrying out of the throne room; not wanting to be apart what was about to transpire. Once Noble Word closed the door behind him, Celestia let Luna have it.

"So, you sent a letter to the Griffon Kingdome without my knowledge. Then you asked Twilight— _ **my**_ student—and Discord to run things while we're gone without even consulting me first" the princess of the sun scolded "Tell me Luna, is anything you didn't do today that wasn't behind my back?"

"You're the one to talk, Celestia!" her younger sister snapped as she pointed a hoof accusingly at her "You were not just about to make arrangements to depart to the Griffon Kingdome in secret, or did I just imagine that?"

"What would you have me do, Luna? Let them die?" the lord of sun argued harshly "If we have any chance of helping their kind, I must agree to these terms!"

"You mean _**we**_ must travel there alone" the lady of moon corrected sharply

Celestia buried her face in her wing and let out a frustrated sigh, there was no way she was going to talk her sibling out of this. Why was she being so difficult?

"Just answer me this one question" she asked as he looked back at her sister "Why did you do this?"

Luna paused before answering and gave her elder sister a surprised look.

"Because you are my sister, 'tia" she spoke in softer tone "And you are all I have left in this world"

Celestia anger then subsided when she heard Luna's confession. It was then that she knew that she hadn't these things to try and spite her for leaving her out of the meeting, but out of love for her only sibling. She should've known that was Luna's only true intention instead thinking that this was some sort revenge-scheme for keeping her out of royal matters such as these. Although the princess of the sun had fixed the broken bond between them, she still felt guilty that inner fear that Luna would relapse would sometimes cloud her judgment on weather or not to include the lady of the moon in affairs such as this.

But perhaps the best way to cast away these fears was to allow her sister to join her on this secret mission to the north. They hadn't really had much time to spend with one another alone as just sisters since the princess of the night returned to continue with her duties as the guardian of the dreamscape. So perhaps this trip to the Griffon Kingdome would do them both some good.

"Very well then, you may join me" she finally relented before sharply adding "But don't think were done talking about this!"

Luna gave Celestia a widen grin in response, clearly happy that she had won the augment.

"Thank you, sister" she said with a small yet gracious bow of her head

Celestia returned the small nod with one of her own before the princess of the night departed from the throne room, leaving the elder of the two sisters alone once more. It was then that the princess of the sun noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It was a crow; a seemingly simple crow that had perched itself upon one of the many windowsills in her throne room. The bird looked down at her as she turned her full attention to it. Normally she would see crows and other birds perch themselves along the castle walls, but there was something…different about this crow in particular, as if it was it was some bad omen.

With a loud kaw, the black bird unfurled its wings and flew out into the open skies above, making Celestia feel a sudden sense of ease come over her.

* * *

The bird flew for many miles until it finally reached the seemingly endless wilds of the Everfree Forest. It was here that it lowered it's altitude as he continued to fly eastward and toward its destination. Soon it came upon a large clearing deep within the confines of the forests. In the clearing their sat a large camp whose occupants had made their tents from the skins of animals they had slain. Small fires kept the creatures warm as the night slowly crept upon them as they huddled together for warmth.

The creatures in question where short bipedal creatures that stood around five feet in height with pale hairless green skin and wore animal skins as clothing, Their eyes where a dark yellow color with lizard-like retinas that gave them perfect vision in the dark. The creatures had knobby legs, but had long, meaty forearms that allowed the beasts to move like apes if they needed a burst of great speed and to easily climb the tallest of trees in the harsh forest to compensate for their legs. They had long needle-like noses with elongated nostrils that allowed them to smell out their prey. Their ears where pulled back and pointed like a bats, giving then excellent hearing. Their teeth were jagged and sharp like broken class while their claws were as sharp as knives. Some carried weapons they had forged out of fire and steel such as axes, crossbows and swords and were well trained in how to use these weapons in both hunting and in combat.

For while the power of magic was known to only one of their kind, goblins where still a force to be reckoned with.

The crow circled over the campsite once before descending down to one of the creatures who had out stretched his arm to the bird. The crow landed on its new perch and allowed the goblin to tenderly stroke its feathers. The goblin wore tattered animal skinned over its shoulders and a pair of dirty pants and had a single glove for his pet bird to sit upon. His eyes had long since been rendered useless after the claws of a manticore had struck his face, leaving three huge scars over his façade and his now empty eye sockets covered by a piece of black cloth.

"Good girl, good Fiona" the goblin praised his bird in a raspy voice as he gave her a worm to consume "Now tell ol' Skallox all that you saw"

The bird let out a series of kaws and squawks. To most this would be considered the ravings of an upset bird, but to Skallox Mudbone, he understood the language of birds as easily as he did English. Once he heard his pet's words, his eye sockets widen in surprise before he rushed over to a large black tent at the center of the goblin campsite, effortlessly evading anyone and anything in his path as if he still had his eyes.

Standing guard outside the tent was a pair of goblins that stopped Skallox before could enter. One was a hulking brute with a broad muscular body with two long fangs that jutted out from his bottom jaw and wore only a fur loincloth and heavy fur boots and carried a large mace in his hands. The second was a female goblin that wore a tattered blue cloak over her shoulders that had a long, slender sword strapped over her back and kept her hood up along with a piece of cloth over her face that covered all but her eyes. Under her cloak was a black suit that was adorned with daggers, throwing stars, darts and other blades that she could throw with pin-point precision.

"This better be good, Skallox" the larger goblin grunted "the master is mediating"

"Fiona says she's got some news about Celestia, Lud" the bird-talker answered "She says that both she and her sister are traveling the Griffon Kingdome"

"And we should care why?" the female goblin asked, clearly uncaring about the situation

"Because their traveling by train in secret, Ziana" Skallox explained "And they'll be alone"

Just as he said that, the entrance to the black tent slowly opened almost by it's will before allowing a single goblin dressed in a dark red satin cloak with gold trim on it to step out of it, making the other goblins bow before him. The goblin was covered in head to toe with his cloak, but a single arm dressed in a metal gauntlet poked out from it as it held a long, burnt black wooden staff that had a had an image of a hooded serpent craved at the top of it. Under the hood of the goblin's cloak, he wore a silver metal mask over the right side of his face—permanently infused into his charred flesh.

While this goblin was not the physically strongest of his kind, this one wielded a power that no other of his people had: the power of magic. It was through his knowledge over magic that he led his people out of the cataclysm that left their homeland in ruins and his people scattered to the winds that was caused by the one who they had cursed for generations, one that they swore vengeance upon until the goblin race was extinct: Princess Celestia.

His name was Ta'Lon Kaas, Grand Lord of the Goblins. And he would have his revenge on the princess of the sun.

The Grand Lord slowly strode toward Skallox like a reaper before he stood in front of the bird-talker. With a simple gesture, he wordlessly allowed his three subjects to rise before speaking.

"Tell me everything…" he ordered in a slow, darkly smoky tone


	2. Parting Ways

Chapter Two: Parting Ways

The train let out a screech from its whistle as it pulled into the Canterlot station in the dead of night. The station was empty of its staff and anypony else—save for a handful the princess's closest friends and confidants there to see the two sisters off for their secret trip to the Griffon Kingdome. The news of the two sister's departure from Canterlot had only reached those they trusted most to keep business as usual at the castle; and that was a very small, but very capable group. The day of their journey to the Griffon Kingdome, Twilight and her friends had arrived at the castle and were here now to say goodbye to the two rulers of Equestria alongside Discord, who was a bit to happy to see the royal siblings off.

"Now I've packed you everything you'll need for you trip" the lord of chaos said as he summoned a pair suitcases for both Alicorns "there's extra sets of cloths, a bathing suit, toilet paper and bottled water—seriously, don't drink the water in the Griffon Kingdome unless you want to spend your entire vacation in the bathroom"

"These suitcases are just full of plastic springing snakes and confetti, aren't they?" Celestia deadpanned, obviously not amused

Discord grimaced at the princess of the sun, clearly unhappy that he had been found out.

"Was it that easy to figure out?" he asked

"No, but I've known you long enough to pick up on such things" the rainbow mane pony replied with a small hint of mockery in her voice

"Oh fine, be a killjoy" Discord grumbled as he made the suitcases vanish with a snap of his claws "Heaven forbid I try to nice for you before you and Lu-Lu run off to have a private vacation without me"

"This isn't a vacation; Discord" Twilight cut in sharply "Celestia and Luna have to negotiate an agreement with Governor Gall so that we can start sending relief aide to his people"

"And trust me; the Griffon Kingdome isn't exactly what I'd call a vacation spot" Rainbow Dash added on "After what Pinkie and I saw of the place, they seriously need our help"

"I don't even know why the princesses need your help anyway, Discord" Spike mentioned bluntly "Twilight can run things here at the castle without you making things even more difficult"

Discord's response came in the form of levitating the baby dragon off of the ground and pulling him face-to-face with the now very irate draconequus.

"Because pipsqueak, I'm the only one besides Celestia and Luna with the power to raise the sun and moon" the patch-work trickster growled in his face "So before you go shooting off your mouth again, you might wanna think before you speak or next time I might just catapult you into the sun!"

"Y-yes sir Mr. Discord sir!" Spike helped in fright

"Discord, let him go!" Twilight snapped

"He started it!" the lord of chaos childishly defended as Fluttershy flew up to him

"I don't care who started it, I'll finish it!" the yellow Pegasus threatened "Now let him go!"

The dranonequus grumbled a few less than nice words under his breath before releasing hold on the baby dragon, letting him fall on top of Rarity in the process.

"Oopsie" Discord said in fake innocent tone as two glared up at him "clumsy me"

It was then that Pinkie Pie approached the princesses with a few of her…unique ideas on how to help the griffon race.

"When you start sending ponies to help, make sure you send lots of bakers because they _really_ need them" Pinkie Pie suggested to the two Alicorns "and party-planners—oh! And clowns and candy and—"

"Ah think the griffons are gonna need more then bakers an' clowns, Pinkie" Applejack interrupted as she covered her friends mouth with a hoof to silence her "They need food an' cloths an' such first an foremost"

"Haven't you heard that laughter is the best form of medicine?" the pink colored mare questioned

"How many times do I gotta tell y'a that that don't work!" the farmer shot back

As the two ponies began to argue over what the griffons needed more and their friends tried to calm them down. Celestia's student moved in closer to the two sisters so she could have a private word with them.

"I still think that you should at least have us come with you, princess Celestia" Twilight said with concern laced heavily in her tone "the path the train has to take leads through the Everfree forest, and the griffons themselves are incredibly hostile toward ponies"

"If there was any other way we could do this, we would do so Twilight. But Gall has given no other option than this one" her teacher answered "We cannot in good conscious let our neighbors in the north suffer, no matter how much they despise us"

"And we can take care of ourselves without assistants" Luna furthered "My sister and bested Discord long before we took the thrones of Equestria"

"That was one time!" Discord spat from a distance

The princess of friendship nodded in understanding at her master's words, but the lord of the sun knew that her apprentice had more to say then she was letting on.

"Is there anything else you want to say, my faithful student?" she asked sweetly

The lavender-coated Alicorn looked down at the ground in what looked like shame to Celestia before speaking up once more.

"I don't know if I can do this" she finally admitted "ruling all of Equestria in your absence; even if it's only for a few days—I don't know if I can do it, when you and Luna were taken by the Everfree forest before I was afraid of that responsibility and of losing you!"

The rainbow-mane pony unfurled one of her wings and pulled her student into a tight embrace and nuzzled her gently on the neck, silently assuring that all would be well. Twilight returned the gesture as she nuzzled her teacher on the neck as well. The tender moment between master and student did not go unnoticed by the smaller Alicorn's friends as they stopped their inane bickering and looked at two gods as they held one another, making they let out a collective 'awe' at the sight while Discord rolled his eyes, though he couldn't help but let a small sweet grin form on the corner of his mouth as he watched the two hug.

While Luna was moved by her elder sister and her student's closeness, she kept a calm demeanor. She was always surprised by the amount of love and faith she had in Twilight. From battling Discord to saving the Crystal Empire, Celestia entrusted much to the newly made Alicorn even long before she attained her wings and stood upon godhood alongside them. In the lady of the moon's life, she had never once taken on an apprentice like her sister did. Even before her exile to the moon, the princess was more concerned with her duties to bringing the moon and watching over ponies' dreams than passing on her knowledge to a student for fear of having them use that very same knowledge against her, and after Celestia's debacle with Sunset Shimmer, her fears proved her grim scenario true. However, she was more then proud to see that her sister had chosen a more then worthy successor to her first student's failings.

The two goddesses held each other for several more quit seconds before Celestia released Twilight from her wing's hold before speaking.

"You are wise and powerful well beyond your years, Twilight Sparkle" the goddess of the sun said as gently as a mother would to her child "I have the utmost faith that you well guide Equestria in my place until my return with the same love and kindness to its ponies as I would"

Twilight's eyes brighten with hope as she smiled to her teacher, who returned the smile with one of her own. Just then the train's engineer approached the two rulers of Equestria.

"We're ready to depart, your majesties" he informed them with a respectful bow

"We'll be on shortly" Luna answered

The two princesses looked back at the group that they were now entrusting all of Equestria to with a look of pride and confidence on their faces. Twilight and her friends bowed before the two goddesses while Discord merely gave the sisters a small but respectful nod to them. Even though Luna had set this all up without her knowledge, Celestia knew that only these eight could rule justly in their place.

"I thank you all for help in this matter" she said to them "hopefully my sister can return soon and we can begin aiding the Griffon Kingdome which I hope will lead to peace between our two races"

Luna leaned over to Twilight and spoke in low tone so that a certain trickster couldn't hear her next few words.

"Make sure Discord doesn't try to do anything to either the sun or moon" she whispered to her "He may true to add his own...special touch to them"

"I'm sure Fluttershy can keep him in check, Princess Luna" the princess of friendship whispered back in assurance "But I'll keep an eye on him to be sure"

With that, the two sisters stepped into the empty passenger car before the train engine let out another screech of its whistle and began to pull out of the station, leaving the group of the princess's confidants all of their Kingdome in their hooves.

As they left the station, Celestia noticed the very same crow from the night before flying in the skies above the train. The black-feathered bird followed the train for a short distance before flying off into the night's sky and off into the unknown. Once again, the princess of the sun couldn't help but feel that the crow was looming shadow over her and her sister's journey; a shadow that may bring ruin on them both.

* * *

The crow flew back to its master, who along with his cohorts, where gathered around an open fire in front of their master's tent as they waited to learn what it had discovered while the rest of the their kind slept. Since hearing of Celestia and Luna secret diplomatic mission, they had been scheming as to how to assassinate the lord of the sun and finally claim their vengeance on her.

"So what did the bird see this time?" Lud asked as the crow landed on Skallox's arm

The blind goblin listened closely to the black-bird's series of kaws before answering the brute.

"She says that she saw Celestia and her sister just left Canterlot on a train" he explained "Their all alone and heading to Griffon Kingdome"

"It's a seventeen hour trip via train to the Griffon Kingdome" Ziana pointed out "and five of those hours put it right through the Everfree forest"

"Oooh, I like the sound of that" Lud growled in excitement "I say we just board the train and kill 'em both; easy enough"

"No, it's not" Ta'Lon voice coldly corrected as he approached the fire

The three goblins bowed before the lord of all goblins as he strode up to them. Ta'Lon gestured for his three lieutenants to rise once more before speaking.

"You seem to forget Lud that Celestia is a goddess incarnate" he sharply lectured the warrior "She has the power to wipe us off the face of the earth without so much as using one/tenth of her full magic to do so! And that monster will have her sister by her side and she is just as powerful as Celestia is!"

"So how should we handle this, my lord?" Ziana questioned

Her master paused as he silently pondered that very same question.

"Let me...meditate on that, Ziana" he finally answered "I'll give you your orders in one hour's time. So be prepared"

The trio nodded in understanding before the lord of all goblins made his way into his tent. Within his tent, he had his own fire and burned brightly. He reached into his pocket and gently withdrew a small bell from it. The bell was silver and covered in rust spots and spread all over it; it also had a small crack along its left side as well. Ta'lon held the bell between his thumb and index finger and rand it, letting it's soft, yet still haunting noise fill the tent.

Suddenly, the fire began to wither away and die, only to have it be reborn as pale blue flames. Within the blue fire then began form a pair of red eyes at the center of it that narrowed in anger at Ta'Lon.

" _ **What do you want, Ta'Lon?**_ " the flames demanded in a deep, resonating voice that still shook the goblin to his core to this day

The goblin bowed down onto one knee before the fire.

"I seek your guidance..." he told the eyes in fire "My master…"


End file.
